Chapter 19 - THE FALL
Vanessa dropped through the floor with a scream.
The gun fired as she fell.
The bullet tore through the ceiling.
Nathan grabbed Sophia. I hit the floor and looked into the broken opening.
Vanessa hung one story below, caught by both hands on an old support beam.
The flash drive lay on a narrow ledge beside her.
"Maya!" she screamed. "Help me!"
I stared down at the woman who had poisoned Nathan, threatened my daughter, burned exits, and pointed a gun at a three-year-old.
My anger said let go.
Sophia touched my arm.
HELP.
I looked at her.
She signed again.
HELP.
Not because Vanessa deserved it.
Because Sophia refused to become Vanessa.
Nathan tied a curtain around a support post and lowered one end.
"Grab it!"
Vanessa reached.
The beam cracked.
I dropped flat, caught her wrist, and nearly went through with her.
Nathan grabbed my waist.
Sophia grabbed Nathan's belt with both hands as if her thirty pounds mattered.
Mrs. Alvarez and two deputies rushed into the hidden room.
Together, we pulled Vanessa up.
She collapsed on the floor sobbing.
A deputy cuffed her.
Vanessa looked at Sophia.
"You saved me."
Sophia didn't understand the spoken words.
I translated.
Vanessa's face twisted.
Sophia signed one answer.
BAD PEOPLE STILL NEED HELP.
I had never taught her that sentence.
Maybe children build their own language out of what we show them.
A deputy retrieved the flash drive from the ledge.
At 7:36 a.m., Nathan's lawyers sent its contents to the board, federal investigators, and every director's personal counsel.
At 8:12, the emergency merger vote was canceled.
At 8:40, Vale Meridian's outside counsel withdrew.
At 8:57, three minutes before the scheduled vote, Graham Hale was formally charged with conspiracy, fraud, attempted murder, and witness tampering.
Nathan looked at the clock.
"We made it."
I wanted to believe him.
Then Dr. Price walked in with a detective.
His face was white.
May you like
"There's one more thing," he said.
"The drug may not have been temporary after all."
